


Dec 2: Slant of Light

by EmeryldLuk



Series: Children of Hades December Prompts [2]
Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan
Genre: Children of Hades, Cooking, Cute, December prompts, Gen, Happy Family, Home, Nap Time, Nico shadow travels, stew
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-02
Updated: 2018-12-02
Packaged: 2019-09-06 05:27:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 886
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16826077
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EmeryldLuk/pseuds/EmeryldLuk
Summary: Lily have a lovely surprise when Nico drops in for a visit.





	Dec 2: Slant of Light

A pair of square, silver glasses sat on a white laminate counter. The potted lily sitting just beyond it was a couple months past dead, a forgotten gift of thanks from Peresephone. Over the half-wall barrier between the kitchen and the rest of the house, a soft gray loveseat matched well with the drab gray walls and a black coffee table. A single wooden shelf about four feet tall held a couple dozen thick books. A charcoal drawing that looked like a child had drawn it hung on the wall.

In the kitchen, the tap of the knife soothed Lily's tired nerves. She chopped the last of the carrots and brushed the roots into the slowly filling pot. Her fingers traced over the counter to the stalk of celery; a necessary ingredient of stew according to Hazel's preferred cookbook.

With a flick of her fingers, the sink faucet turned on, water gushing out. Lily hesitated only for a moment, shaking off the feeling of awe that still persisted in her mind. Then she stuck the celery under the water.

She hummed a song to herself, letting her gaze wander over the walls, blindly focusing on the way the sunlight filtered into the room past haze clouds. She scrubbed each piece of vegetable clean of dirt and summoned the knife into her hand once more.

Lily had no need to see what she was doing. Gods knew she could perfectly filet a fish blindfolded. So, she let her hands do the work, letting her mind wander.

The light shifted, thinning, changing the shades of gray in the room. She wondered what kind of things Hazel would put on her Christmas list.

Lily heard a click from the front door. She paused in her chopping to listen, hearing the jingle of keys and the turn of the knob.

"I'm home," Hazel announced.

"Welcome," Lily said with some hesitation. Hazel squeezed behind her with two bags of groceries. "Did you get everything?"

"They were out of that special cheese you wanted, but I got everything else." Hazel opened the fridge to put things away. "I asked and the next delivery is in two days."

"Ah." Lily resumed chopping the celery.

"Are you cooking without your glasses again." Hazel huffed, "You know that's dangerous."

"And I learned to cook long before I ever had glasses. No one has ever lost any fingers."

"So you say." Hazel opened the cabinet next to Lily.

"Well, I might have put out an eye, but Nikolas had it coming."

"Your nightmare, Nikolas?"

"The same." Lily dumped the celery into the pot.

They both felt a shift. A slant to the world as if the light had thinned out for a moment. Then they heard a cough and a thump in the living room.

"Nico!" Hazel ran around to him. He groaned and settled on the coffee table, the energy sapped from his bones. She wrapped her arms around his shoulders.

"I am so glad you could make it."

"Thanks," he gasped. "Will almost didn't let me come."

Lily set the pot on the stove and leaned over. "With good reason. You know shadow travel is bad for your health."

Nico rolled his eyes. "Don't go ganging up on me now. Just be glad I promised to wait a week before going back."

"A week? That's great!" Hazel grinned. "Frank can't come with me to see this movie coming out next Friday. Praetor stuff. And Lily says moving pictures are nonsense. You'll go with me, right?"

Light flashed across the room as Lily put on her glasses. She smiled sympathetically at Nico.

"Yeah, I'll go with you Hazel," he agreed with a cringe.

"Yes!"

Feeling the need to rescue Nico from being smothered with Hazel's enthusiasm, Lily spoke up.

"Hazel, why don't you make up Nico's bed for him. He should probably take a nap after traveling all the way from New York."

Hazel bounced off into the smaller of the two bedrooms. Lily wiped off her hands and went to Nico.

"So, how are you feeling?" She asked him.

"Fine," he lied. She frowned. "Exhausted," he corrected, "but not as much as I would have been last year. Will does his best to make sure I stay put."

"That's good." she touched his arm, feeling how much he missed his boyfriend already, on top of the physical fatigue. "Get some rest. I'm cooking stew for tomorrow, but there's plenty of sandwich things in the fridge still."

"Stew, huh? That's a new one for you."

"Only one way to learn. Can you get up?"

He nodded, and yawned. "I'm tired, not crippled."

She threatened, "Don't make me pick you up, young man."

Nico rolled his eyes. Hazel leaned out of the doorway.

"Is one blanket okay? The other one is still dirty."

Standing up, Nico walked over. "It's fine, Hazel. Wake me up if the world ends again?"

"As if that would happen," Hazel said.

The room was dark as it had no windows and the lights were off. Even so, Nico found his bed on the far wall without too much of an issue and slipped under the covers. Lily looked in on him as he fell asleep with a slant of light falling across his face. She smiled and eased the door shut.


End file.
